Vulnerability of land systems to fire: Interactions among humans,climate, the atmosphere,and ecosystems

Fires are critical elements in the Earth System, linking climate, humans, and vegetation. With 200–500 Mha burnt annually, fire disturbs a greater area over a wider variety of biomes than any other natural disturbance. Fire ignition, propagation, and impacts depend on the interactions among climate, vegetation structure, and land use on local to regional scales. Therefore, fires and their effects on terrestrial ecosystems are highly sensitive to global change. Fires can cause dramatic changes in the structure and functioning of ecosystems. They have significant impacts on the atmosphere and biogeochemical cycles. By contributing significantly to greenhouse gas (e.g., with the release of 1.7–4.1 Pg of carbon per year) and aerosol emissions, and modifying surface properties, they affect not only vegetation but also climate. Fires also modify the provision of a variety of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, soil fertility, grazing value, biodiversity, and tourism, and can hence trigger land use change. Fires must therefore be included in global and regional assessments of vulnerability to global change. Fundamental understanding of vulnerability of land systems to fire is required to advise management and policy. Assessing regional vulnerabilities resulting from biophysical and human consequences of changed fire regimes under global change scenarios requires an integrated approach. Here we present a generic conceptual framework for such integrated, multidisciplinary studies. The framework is structured around three interacting (partially nested) subsystems whose contribute to vulnerability. The first subsystem describes the controls on fire regimes (exposure). A first feedback subsystem links fire regimes to atmospheric and climate dynamics within the Earth System (sensitivity), while the second feedback subsystem links changes in fire regimes to changes in the provision of ecological services and to their consequences for human systems (adaptability). We then briefly illustrate how the framework can be applied to two regional cases with contrasting ecological and human context: boreal forests of northern America and African savannahs.     

文安5.1级地震前十三陵台电磁辐射观测的异常特征

通过对文安5.1级地震前十三陵台电磁辐射观测资料异常的分析,详细说明了地震前电磁辐射观测的异常特征,充分肯定了其在短临预报中所发挥的作用,为电磁辐射台站开展地震分析预报工作提供了一个震例依据.     

The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship

Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.     

NON-ZERO LOWER LIMIT IN LOW FLOW FREQUENCY ANALYSIS?1

ABSTRACT: The implications of fitting distributions with non-zero lower limits to low flow data are examined. The 3-parameter Weibull distribution is fitted to annual minimum flow series from 60 long term stations in Canada. The relations between the estimated lower limit and three sampling variables (skewness, smallest, and largest observations) were investigated. The lower limit strongly depends on the sample skewness; it varies directly with the sample skewness, which in turn is highly influenced by the largest observation. For a given skewness, the value of the estimated lower limit is determined by the value of the smallest observation. Therefore, the lower limit cannot be accurately determined, and the resulting low flow estimates will be either too small or too high.     

井下地脉动测试方法及工程意义

井下地脉动测试是一种新型的原位测试手段,本文简介了这种测试方法的要点,并对测试数据的工程价值与应用方法进行了讨论。     

The Influence of Synoptic-scale Air Flow and Local Circulation on the Dust Layer Height in the North of the Taklimakan Desert

The present study investigates the influences of synoptic-scale air flows and local wind circulations on the dust layer height (DLH) in the Taklimakan Desert, based on lidar observations performed in the north of the desert in March 2003. The DLH fluctuates approximately every three days between 2500 m (above sea level) and 5000 m, including diurnal variations. Meteorological analyses and numerical simulations show that the three-day fluctuation of DLH corresponds with variations in synoptic-scale air flows over the Taklimakan Desert, and the diurnal variations are linked to downdrafts and updrafts that are formed over the north of the desert as part of local circulations. When strong northerly winds prevail in the upper troposphere and a developed valley wind blows toward the Tienshan Mountains in the lower troposphere, the downdrafts strengthen in the middle troposphere over the north of the desert, lowering the DLH to about 2500 m. In contrast, the DLH rises to about 5000 m when the updrafts develop between strong southerly winds in the upper troposphere and a developed mountain wind blowing from the Tienshan Mountains. Simulations for the local circulation behavior without the presence of the Tienshan Mountains demonstrate that the valley and mountain winds on the southern slope of the Tienshan Mountains control the intensity of the downdrafts and updrafts, thereby influencing the DLH over the north of the Taklimakan Desert.     

高邮地磁台加卸载响应比与江苏及邻近地区的地震预测

研究分析了高邮地磁台1980～2001年观测资料的加卸载响应比异常与江苏及邻近地区ML5.0以上地震之间的关系,提出了适用于高邮地磁台的地震分析预报参数,并对其内检预报效能进行了评价。     

VOCs走航观测在城市污染源排查中的应用

为推进城市空气质量精细化管理工作的实施,实现VOCs污染源精准排查,2019年3—4月,利用单光子电离飞行时间质谱对青岛市重点区域进行了VOCs走航观测。在排查到的污染源中,工业区的VOCs浓度较生活区整体偏高,且生活区、工业区夜间的VOCs浓度均较白天高。VOCs各类组分中,生活区白天苯系物、卤代烃、烯烃、烷烃的占比均在20%左右,夜间苯系物占比明显升高;工业区苯系物在白天和夜间的占比均最高,其他组分相对较小。浓度较高的前10位VOCs物种中,生活区白天烯烃物种占主导,夜间烷烃物种的比重明显增加;工业区苯系物、烯烃物种在白天和夜间的比重均较大,烷烃物种较小。生活区VOCs的污染源主要为机动车尾气排放和油品挥发,工业区主要为企业排放。烯烃和苯系物臭氧生成贡献较烷烃高,特别是丁烯、戊烯、己烯、甲苯、二甲苯/乙苯、三甲苯贡献显著,建议作为优控物种重点管控。     

Intranasal administration of tetrabromobisphenol A bis(2-hydroxyethyl ether) induces neurobehavioral changes in neonatal Sprague Dawley rats

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and its derivatives are now being highly concerned due to their emerging environmental occurrence and deleterious effects on non-target organisms. Considering the potential neurotoxicity of TBBPA derivatives which has been demonstrated in vitro, what could happen in vivo is worthy of being studied. Tetrabromobisphenol A bis(2-hydroxyethyl ether) (TBBPA-BHEE), a representative TBBPA derivative, was selected for a 21-day exposure experiment on neonatal Sprague Dawley (SD) rats through intranasal administration. The neurobehavioral, histopathological changes, and differentially expressed genes based on RNA microarray were investigated to evaluate the neurological effects of this chemical. The results indicated that TBBPA-BHEE exposure significantly compromised the motor co-ordination performance and the locomotor activities (p < 0.05). The neurobehavioral phenotype could be attributed to the obvious histopathological changes in both cerebrum and cerebellum, such as neural cell swelling, microglial activation and proliferation. A total of 911 genes were up-regulated, whereas 433 genes were down-regulated. Gene set enrichment analysis showed multiple signaling pathways, including ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and wingless-int (Wnt) signaling pathway etc. were involved due to TBBPA-BHEE exposure. The gene ontology enrichment analysis showed the basic cellular function and the neurological processes like synaptic transmission were influenced. The toxicological effects of TBBPA-BHEE observed in this study suggested the potential neuronal threaten from unintended exposure, which would be of great value in the biosafety evaluation of TBBPA derivatives.     

太阳活动对地球表面温度影响的研究进展

论述了近年来对地球表面温度变化特征、原因研究的意义及研究进展。许多研究表明，20世纪全球地表气温的变化是自然因素和人为因素共同作用的结果。根据多种反映太阳活动的代用指标拟合的气候模型指出，太阳活动可以解释1850年以前气温变化的大部分情况。工业革命以来，温室气体成为不可忽视的影响因素，太阳活动对气候影响所占的比重及其相互作用的物理机制仍然是有待深入研究和解决的问题。